


And the Walls Come Tumbling Down

by storyhaus



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 08:53:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13361019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storyhaus/pseuds/storyhaus
Summary: A CSI buried, can they save him in time?





	And the Walls Come Tumbling Down

And The Walls Come Tumbling Down

"Hey, Russell told me to give you a hand." Nick said to Greg as he walked into the bedroom of the middle class home on the outskirts of Las Vegas.  
"I processed the scene, just waiting for the coroner. Figured I'd take a look around the rest of the house while I waited." Greg replied.  
Nick looked back at the livingroom where the bodies of an elderly couple laid and shook his head.  
"I'm calling it murder/suicide. Cancer drugs in her name." Greg pointed to the pill bottles on the nightstand in her name, "Evelyn Walker."  
"Hey guys." David Phillips nodded to them as he knelt by the bodies.  
"Stay with Super Dave, I'll check the rest of the house." Nick said and headed into the kitchen.  
"You mind if I go outside? The odor's really..."  
"Yeah, don't go too far though." Nick nodded.  
"Just the porch." The uniformed officer nodded and left the house.  
Nick walked into the kitchen and let his eyes wander around the room, he narrowed them seeing drops of red on the yellow linoleum.  
Putting his kit down he removed a cotton swab and wetted it with phenolphthalein then dipped it into the red spot, he put a couple of drops of hydrogen-peroxide on the swab which turned pink.  
"Human blood." He nodded to himself.  
He took another swab and dipped it into the blood and capped it for later testing with a quick notation of when and where it was found.  
His next step was to place numbered markers by each drop of blood he'd found and photograph them.  
The trail led him to the basement door, he pulled a glove from his kit and used it to open the door.  
Turning on the flashlight he headed down the stairs.

"TOD's about four hours ago." David said checking the liver temperature of the female victim.  
He and an assistant placed her body in a bag and zipped it for transport to the coroner's office.  
"I'll help you get her loaded into the van." Greg offered and they wheel Mrs. Walker out of the house.  
David was preparing Mister Walker in the bag, leaving it unsealed until they came back.  
He placed his tools back into his kit and stood stretching his back.  
Rushing footsteps caused him to start then he felt himself being propelled away from the body and into the far wall across the room where he fell to the floor.  
The next thing he felt was the floor heaving up then dropping out from under him.

Greg was just closing the van door when he was thrown to the pavement, he turned and looked in shock which turned to horro.  
The house was now a pile of rubble.  
Climbing to shaky feet he rushed toward it.  
"NICK! DAVID!" He shouted in panic.  
The officer who had been on the porch was laying in the grass, he reached up with a bloodied hand to his radio and called a code 444...officer in trouble.  
Greg tried to get inside but there was too much debris, he silently prayed his friends were okay.

Brass arrived only behind a squad car and rushed over to Greg.  
"Hey! What happened?"  
"It just...blew up." Greg uttered.  
"Anyone inside?" Brass asked tersely.  
"Nick and David." Greg looked at him. "They're in there...somewhere."  
Brass immediately called for fire and medic, and Russell then went over and started shouting for the two men he worked closely with.

Russell hung up after receiving the call no supervisor wanted to get.  
He took a breath and made his own calls, informing the Sheriff, Conrad Ecklie, and calling Doc Robbins.  
He and Finn arrived on the scene less than fifteen minutes after getting the call from Brass.

"We've only got three hours of daylight, let's see if we can find them before we need the floods." The Fire Chief announced and issued orders to his crew.  
One ambulance was leaving, taking Officer Thomas to the hospital as Ecklie and Morgan arrived.  
"Talk to me JIm." Ecklie ordered.  
"The firefighters started to remove some of the debris but deemed it too dangerous so they're going to use the hawkeye camera to locate them in that mess." Brass informed him.  
Morgan spotted Greg and went over to him.  
"David was with the male vic on the far side of the livingroom, here." Greg pointed on the house plans they'd found in the city archives. "I'm not sure where NIck was." He admitted morosely.  
Morgan placed an arm around his shoulder in support.  
"At leaset we have a starting point." The fire chief nodded and headed back to his men at the house.  
"I should have found out where Nick was going to investigate." Greg uttered.  
"They'll find him, they'll find them both."  
"But will they be alive?" Greg asked looking at the former house guiltily.

Russell slammed on the brakes and jumped right behind Finn, they rushed over to Brass and Ecklie and received an update.  
His mind was already on the call he might have to make.  
He'd only done a readthrough on Nick's personnel file to find out what kind of CSI he was, ne never looked to see who to contact in an emergency.  
"Does he even have a family?" Russell uttered, Nick had never mentioned anyone to him.  
"They live in Texas." Brass replied.  
"Huh?"  
"Judge Stokes and his wife. Nick's parents. I met them a few years back." Brass answered not taking his eyes off the house.  
"How bad was it?" Finn asked reading between the lines.  
"Bad." Brass answered looking at them.  
"Any word?" Doc Robbins asked joining them.  
"They're getting ready to send the camera in." Greg said as he and Morgan came over to them.  
"I don't know about all of you but I plan on watching as well." Doc Robbins said and limped over to where the fire chief was watching a monitor.  
By silent agreement the others followed.

The ringing inn David's ears finally ceased, he realized he was pinned down so he tried to scoot a bit to turn onto his side, a yelp escaped him when a limp hand and arm dropped over his shoulder to land in front of him.  
This had to be who attacked me.  
With a shaky hand he placed two fingers on the wrist of the dirty and bloodied hand in front of him.  
A pulse. Slow and steady.  
David rotated the hand ever so slightly and caught a glint of silver, he realized it was a ring.  
A familiar ring...one he'd seen many times before.  
"Nick." He whispered and wiggled sideways to find the longtime CSI against him unconscious.  
The doctor in him took over and he assessed Nick's condition the best he could in the meager light.  
There was a cut on his forehead, David gently probed Nick's head and found a sticky wetness on the back of his head which he knew was blood.   
David was able to sit up enough to undo his coroner's jumpsuit and get his tee shirt off, frowning he tried ripping it into strips but found it difficult to get a start anywhere.  
He blew out a breath in frustration then remembered Nick was wearing his CSI vest with lots of pockets, a triumphant grin graced his face when he found a switch blade.  
Making quick work of the tee shirt he had strips of cloth, he placed one each on the wounds on Nick's head and used another strip to hold them in place tie it off so it would stay.  
Next he carefully probed Nick's arms, chect and back relieved not to find any breaks or gives, especially in the rib area.  
Unfortunately there was nothing he could do below Nick's hips as the debris was covering him from there down his entire legs.  
Lastly David wound a strip of cloth around Nick's bloodied hand and tied it off.  
"I've done all I can Nick, now we wait." David said placing a hand on Nick's arm.

The camera slowly snaked into the debris seeking any sign of life.  
"What is that?" The fire chief asked.  
The firefighter manning the camera adjusted the controls as they crowded around even more.  
"It's one of them." Brass uttered dishearted at seeing the dismembered hand.  
The fire fighter radioed his companion on the other end of the camera to rotate the line.  
"It's our vic." Greg breathed relieved at seeing the elderly man and not one of his friends.  
"David should be near-by." Doc Robbins said.  
They continued to watch intently hoping to find David now.

Nick groaned slightly.  
"Nick?"  
"You give me the flu Billy? My head hurts."  
"Nick...it's David."  
"David?" Nick frowned not opening his eyes.  
"David Phillips."  
"Super Dave?" Nick asked puzzled prying his eyes open.  
"Yeah. The house fell down. Do you remember?" David asked hopefully.  
"Bomb." Nick uttered with a wince as he tried to sit up.  
"It was a bomb?" David asked nervously.  
"Was Super Dave." Nick reminded and laid still.  
"Oh...right." Dave nodded.  
"You been doctoring me up?" Nick asked feeling his head.  
"Um...yeah." David answered embarrassed.  
"Thanks man." Nick breathed.  
"Can you tell if your legs are okay? I can't get to them."  
Nick was silent for a moment.  
"My ankle hurts." He finally said.  
"I'm sorry."  
"Not your fault man." Nick answered patting his arm, "How lo g we been down here?"  
David checked his watch thanking his wife for buy a glow-in-the-dark one for him.  
"Thirty minutes maybe?" He answered.  
"Okay. Good." Nick said closing his eyes.  
David was at a loss for words so he sat silently and hoped help came soon.

"The blast must have propelled David away or the body away." Finn said what they were all thinking when the camera failed to locate David.  
"Call for the SAR dogs." The fire chief ordered.  
"Let's hope it's Search and Rescue not Search and Recovery." Brass utered quietly.  
He'd seen too many of the latter.  
The Crime Lab folks could do nothing but wait now.

Nick opened his eyes, the pain in his ankle was down to a dull ache.  
"Is it me or did it get darker?" He asked.  
"It's after seven." David told him.  
"I hate these double shifts."  
"Me too. Mrs. Phillips and I had plans for this evening." David lamented.  
"Yeah? What do the Phillips do for fun on a Wednesday?" Nick asked.  
"We were going to see Wayne Newton, it's our anniversary."  
"Congratulations Super Dave." Nick smiled tiredly.  
"Thanks. Have you ever thought about getting married Nick?"  
"Naw. Haven't found the right woman."  
"Not Nurse Lauren or Doc Robbins niece?"  
"Does everybody know I'm datin' two women?" Nick groaned.  
"Pretty much." David nodded.  
"Am I in deep with the Doc?" Nick asked.  
"I think he figures it's none of his business. Do they know about each other?"  
"Yeah, they could decide if they wanted to date me or not plus they know I'm not settling down yet."  
"Um...aren't you almost forty?" David winced.  
"I'll be forty-one. I just...I want a marriage like my parents have. They've been married fifty-two years Dave." Nick said longingly.  
"Wow! I hope I'm married that long." David smiled at the thought.  
"Gonna have kids?"  
"We hope to. Maybe two or three."  
"Maybe seven?" Nick teased.  
"Seven?" David choked.  
"It's a good number man! I'm the seventh Stokes kid." Nick told him.  
"Wow! I just have one brother." David told him, "How many nieces and nephews do you have?"  
"The youngest is six now so...fourteen total." Nick mentally counted.  
"My brother is divorced, no kids."  
"Hey," Nick nudged him, "reach into my left vest pocket."  
David did so and smiled feeling a small flashlight, turning it on he aimed it at Nick.  
"Let there be light." The CSI joked.  
"How long will the batteries last?"  
"I replaced them last week so hopefully til they find us man."   
I wish I had put those fresh batteries in. Nothing to be done about it now.  
"I wonder how long that will be? I hate being trapped in here." David shivered.  
"Yeah...me too." Nick replied quietly.  
"Oh...God...Nick, I'm sorry--"  
"It's okay Dave. Things like this are bound to bring it back to me." Nick patted his arm.  
"Was it hard to overcome?" David asked softly.  
"I had a decent therapist." Nick replied.  
"That's good." David nodded.  
"I'm just gonna close my eyes for a minute."   
David sat silently and watched him making sure he continued to breath.

It took nearly thirty minutes for the rescue dogs to arrive.  
Walking through the rubble was slow going for the dogs and their handlers.  
It seemed like a long time to the watching CSI's until they started pawing and barking. at the debris.  
"Get that camera over here!" The fire chief called.  
Let it be them and let them be alright, Brass prayed.

"Do you hear that Nick?" David asked.  
"Dogs. They got dogs." Nick smiled tiredly, "I really like dogs."  
"Should I call out?"  
"Go for it Super."  
David started shouting hoping they could hear him.  
"Use the flashlight too." Nick said when he stopped for a breath.  
David found a small hole and started flashing it off and on.

"What's that?" Russell pointed to flashes on the monitor.  
"There!" Brass pointed too.  
The fire chief relayed to his crew and they moved the camera to where the light was.  
"You're closer." Greg said.  
"It's David!" Doc Robbins said as they hawkeye camera found him.  
"He's at least five feet down." The fire chief said checking the camera depth gauge.  
"Buried under brick and wood." Finn frowned.  
"Angle the camera to the left of David." Morgan requested.  
"What'd you see?" Russell asked as the fire chief relayed her request.  
"Nicky." Brass breathed relieved when he appeared beside David.  
"They're together." Greg grinned.  
"Looks like he's hurt." Finn pointed out.  
"One thing at a time, let's just get them out first." Russell answered as the fire chief relayed orders to his crew.

"I don't hear anything." David said, "No more dogs. Maybe they don't know we're here."  
"Where was Greg?"  
"Helping Gerald."  
"He was outside then?" Nick asked.  
"Yes." David nodded.  
"Help is out there Super." Nick awkwardly patted his arm.  
"You really think so?" David asked dubiously.  
"I'll bet you a steak dinner Jim, Russell, the entire graveshift, even Doc are all out there."  
He seems so certain...  
"No bet Nick."  
"Smart man." Nick chuckled.

The CSI's and police watched as heavy equipment was brought in.  
The men had been trapped for over two hours now.  
It had taken almost forty-five minutes for the equipment to arrive as anyone from the construction site a mile way had left for the day.  
"Just luft the top layer, not to deep, we don't want to grab one of our guys by mistake." The fire chief ordered the equipment operator.  
The burly man donned his hardhat and begun excavating.

"What's that?" David asked startled.  
"Backhoe. They're gonna dig us out. I did some construction during summer break from college. Needed money for girls and beer." Nick grinned tiredly.  
David chuckled then flinched at the noise overhead.  
Deciding it would be wiser to be laying down, in case they got a little too close, he settled next to Nick and held his breath.  
"Relax man, we'll be out of here soon." Nick assured him.

"Hold up!" A fire fighter called raising his hand.  
The construction worker stopped and waited.  
"I see them!" The fire fighter called.  
Grins broke out among the CSI's and police.  
The fire fighter conversed with David then turned to them.  
"The coroner seems to be okay but the CSI has a head wound and possible broken ankle."

Though reluctant to leave Nick, David knew he needed to be rescued first so they could unearth Nick easier.  
He did refuse however to go to the hospital until Nick was freed too.  
A fire fighter slipped into the hole.  
"How are you doing Mister Stokes?" He asked checking the boards trapping Nick.  
"Been better...been worse too." Nick joked.  
"Have any pain besides your ankle?"  
"Not that I can tell." Nick shook his head.  
The fire fighter placed a cloth over Nick then cut a small section of board away.  
"How are you with bad news?" He asked partially uncovering NIck.  
"Just tell me."   
"I can see a nail sticking out of your thigh about midway. I'm gonna get a medic down here to take a look. Sit tight." The fire fighter said and climbed out.  
A medic slipped in and quickly went to work without preamble, after packing gauze around the nail he checked Nick's vitals then climbed out.  
The fire fighter returned, removed more debris from Nick the carefully cut away more board making sure the nail was firmly in place still.  
Nick was secured to a harness and slowly raised from the rubble to the claps of his friends and co-workers as well as local media.  
Once he was on a stretcher Doc Robbins took a look and told the medics not to remove the nail as it looked like it might have punctured his femoral artery and he hadn't bled out immediately because of the nail acting as a plug.  
"Boss." Nick called.  
"Hang in there bud, they're going to take good care of you." Russell assured him hiding his own worry.  
"There was a note with the bomb, it's in my pocket."  
Finn handed Russell a glove and he pulled it out of Nick's vest.  
Greg held open a baggy and it was deposited inside.  
"I'll take it back to the lab." Ecklie offered then turned to Nick, "Do what the doctor's say...and don't die. I don't want to have to call Grissom and Catherine...especially Catherine."  
"Thanks Conrad." Nick rolled his eyes.  
"Alright, let's get them to the hospital." Doc Robbins ordered climbing in with Nick, David was in a second ambulance and they left together.  
"I think this scene can wait until we hear about Nick. Can uniforms sit on this place Jim?"  
"Not a problem. You and you have the detail." Brass pointed to two officers then led the others to their vehicles to head to the hospital.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"How long's it been?" Greg asked around a yawn.  
"Almost three hours." Russell checked his watch and answered.  
He'd called his wife not long after their arrival at the hospital, she'd sent her best wishes to Nick, though she'd never met him or the others save for Finn he had told her all about them.  
"Well, if the nail did go into his artery they'd have to keep pressure on it to slow dow the bleeding then stitch the artery up, that'll take time." David explained.  
He'd been checked out and cleared two hours ago and now waited with them.  
"Hey." Brass motioned down the hall and they met the doctor half way.  
"We've got Mister Stokes in recovery. The nail missed the artery by centimeters. He was extremely lucky. We also stitched up the laceration on the back of his head and set his ankle which was broke, it was a clean break. All in all Mister Stokes was very fortunate. We'll keep him here for observation for a few days to make sure there's no concussion. The nurse will let you know when he's settled in upstairs. You can look in on him but he'll be pretty groggy and probably fall asleep quickly." Doctor Stewart informed them.  
"Thank you doctor." Russell nodded as the medic departed.  
"One thing still puzzles me," Finn said, "why didn't Nick just get the two of them out of the house before it blew?"   
"I'd guess there wasn't enough time so Nicky did the best he could by getting David as far from the blast zone as possible." Brass answered.  
"Nick was probably counting down in his head." Greg nodded in agreement.  
"Cops protect CSI's...CSI's protect coroners." Brass added.  
"He was doing his job." David nodded slowly.  
"He was protecting his friend." Russell corrected.  
"He pushed me against the wall." David uttered.  
"Nick was behind you...he shielded you David." Doc Robbins summed up.  
"He saved my life." David swallowed.  
"Nick seems to be good at that." Russell replied.  
"Mister Stokes is in recovery, if you'll follow me." A nurse told them and they headed upstairs.

Nick dug and dug but he never seemed to get any closer to the surface, something was blocking his way.  
He pushed and pushed but couldn't get out.  
His breathing increased sending the monitors blaring.  
"Hey, hey, it's okay Nicky." Brass soothed, "Come on, wake up." He added grabbing Nick's flailing hands.  
Nick's eyes flew open and darted about until landing on Brass.  
"Jim?" he panted, his southern drawl more pronounced than normal.  
"Yeah Nicky, it's alright." Brass squeezed his hands then released them  
"Damn nightmares." Nick muttered closing his eyes.  
"Mister Stokes?" A nurse asked stepping inside.  
"He's okay now." Russell assured her.  
Taking a quick look at the monitors the nurse seemed satisfied and left them.  
Nick opened his eyes again and looked over to see not only Brass ans Russell but Finn, Morgan, David, Doc Robbins and Greg who held up a pitcher.  
"I got you some water." Greg offered.  
"Thanks man." Nick nodded and accepted the cup he'd filled taking a few sips, "So what did the note say?" He asked looking at Russell.  
"Mister Walker confessed to overdosing his wife. He rigged the bomb to destroy the house because they were in debt due to his wife's cancer treatments." Russell explained.  
"He set it to go off hours later?" Finn frowned.  
"Cards." Nick uttered.  
"Nicky?" Brass motioned.  
"They had one of those erasable calendar's on their fridge. They were supposed to play cards this afternoon...Patricia's." Nick recalled.  
"I'll have the uni's ask around the neighborhood." Brass replied and patted Nick's arm before leaving.  
"Nick?"  
"Yeah Super Dave?"  
"Thanks for saving my life."  
"You're welcome, just wish there'd been enough time to get us out of there but the bomb was down to two minutes when I found it." Nick sighed.  
"What matters is that you're both alright." Doc Robbins answered.  
"Mister Stokes needs his rest." The nurse told them.  
"Go on, I'll be along in a minute." Russell motioned to the others.  
"We'll be back later." Greg said, Morgan kissed his cheeek and Finn waved before departing with Doc Robbins and David.  
"One minute." The nurse eyed Russell who nodded as she stepped out.  
"If you need to talk my door is always open." Russell told him.  
"Thanks boss." Nick nodded and closed his eyes.  
Russell headed for the door when Nick stopped him, Russell turned.  
"Walter Gordon." Nick said not opening his eyes.  
Russell waited but Nick was silent.  
With one last look at the senior CSI he departed.

Finn, Morgan and Greg were at the house sifting through the rubble.  
The fire fighters has unearthed the body of Mister Walker and sent it to the coroners office, they left the rest of the house to the CSI's.  
Even though they had a note of confession from Mister Walker, the graveshift team wanted to make sure it was true so here they were sorting through the remains of the home to locate the bomb for trace, DNA and fingerprints to prove the male victim was truly the perpetrator.  
It was slow, tedious work but hours later they had the remnants of the explosive and headed back to the lab to put the pieces back together.

"Hey, I talked to Patricia and Peter Sammons, they were supposed to play cards with the Walker's but Mrs. Walker called and canceled, she wasn't feeling well." Brass said stepping into Russell's office.  
"So what, Parker decided to kill himslef and his wife before the bomb went off?"  
"Mrs. Sammon's said they usually ate and played cards til six p.m. Mrs. Walker had a set schedule for her meds, it was a five minute drive to the Sammons."  
"So Mister Walker overdoses his wife, commits suicide then waits for the bomb to detonate to stick it to his creditors." Russell deduced.  
"Just bad timing a delivery man looked inside a few hours early." Brass shrugged.  
"Yeah, for Nick and David." Russell agreed and looked at him.  
"What?"  
"Walter Gordon."  
"Nick tell you?" Brass sighed.  
"Just the name." Russell nodded and tapped his monitor, "I told him rescuing Wes Clyborn took a lot of guts but this..."  
"Yeah. Nick's had a lot of crap dumped on him from the job but that...it put us all through the wringer." Brass nodded.  
"What would you have done?"  
"Ate a bullet. You?"  
"I don't know." Russell admitted.  
"I didn't either til I saw him go through that." Brass replied and headed to the door, "Oh, don't show him any pity...he had enough of that afterwards." Brass advised and left.  
Russell thought about what Nick had been through because of Walter Gordon, his daughter Kelly and Sylvia Mullens.  
He knew he wouldn't have shed a tear for any of them.  
It also didn't surprise him that Nick survived, he was clearly mentally and emotionally strong.  
Closing down the file Russell rose and headed for the lab to see what the progress was on the bomb.

Greg was running DNA.  
Finn was tackling trace.  
Morgan was checking fingerprints.  
Russell entered the lab they were using and waited quietly.

"Prints are a match to Mister Walker." Morgan announced moments later.  
"I have some hairs, also a match to Walker." Finn replied.  
"And I have the trifecta. Just his DNA on the bomb." Greg smiled.  
"Case closed. Murder/suicide." Russell nodded, "Good work...we are now off the clock, head on home." Russell told them and departed.

Nick flexed his foot and winced as he opened his eyes.  
"Hey."   
"Boss. Kind of late isn't it?"  
"Yeah, after two. I snuck in. The Gordon case is keeping me awake." Russell answered and sat down.  
"Yeah, well...living it was worse." Nick admitted.  
"I assume you had counseling?"  
"I bs'ed 'em. Told him what he wanted to hear. It wasn't until a couple of years ago I really talked about it."  
"Why then?"  
"I was shot then a few days later nearly blown up. Catherine told me she'd lost Warrick, she didn't want to lose me too and gave me her therapist's card."   
"Good. I like you Nick. You're a great CSI and I'm lucky to have you on the team."  
"Thanks." Nick smiled then yawned.  
"Get some sleep."  
Nick yawned again, closed his eyes and was asleep in minutes.  
Russell watched him for a long time.  
We may have gotten off to a rocky start but I do like you Nick and I'm glad to work with you.  
"You're a very rare breed in this field." Russell said quietly and settled in for the night.

the end 2012


End file.
